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Posted

Well, the Curse of the CanJam has claimed another victim. After being banned from the meet, Mikhail seems to have jinxed the SinglePower amps in attendance. First Neil's, now my SDS-XLR is dead. :mad: I really hope that Andy's amps are not next. Have you checked the amps? :eek:

I set it up yesterday for the first time since CanJam and had a very strange incident where the left channel did not seem to be working on the K1K and then I switched in my K701 with Black Dragon and the left channel was still out. I swapped the driver tubes and still no left channel. Even though the left channel had been out on two cans, I decided to double check and swapped left and right and the left channel worked with the right side of the cans plugged into it. I then tried the K1K again and both channels were working. Eventually I tried the origninal 2c51s in the driver position and they worked too. Weird that I would find out the damn K701 lost the left channel -- again I might add -- at the same time, but I carried on because the left side was out when I tried it on the TTVJ FET-A. The amp sounded good but not great but I was doing lots of things and listening to speakers and didn't pay super close attention.

Tonight, I wanted to settle in for some listening and the SDS-XLR started up just fine. I had HD800s plugged in and it sounded kinda lame so I thought I should warm it up with the volume down. I had the Moth playing on the Cicadas and all of the sudden there was a pop in the regulator tubes and all four went out. I quickly turned everything off and swore profusely but quietly because the kids are around. I felt the regulators and they seemed cold. I don't know how hot they run usually but they seemed damn cold for tubes.

I gave it a few minutes then pulled the regulator tubes. One of them rattled so I thought maybe it was a bad tube situation. I replaced them with new ones to see if it was the tube(s). Rectifiers switched on fine, although one of them seemed less bright than the other, which was true yesterday too. Heaters came on and the amp powered up fine. Switched on the plates and no ignition even with just two regulators, which always works. No sound was coming out of the amp and in about a minute or less there was a spark inside one of the rectifiers so everything was turned off again. Now unplugged and presumably dead.

Happy Fucking Father's Day to me. :palm:

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Posted

I'm really sorry to hear this, Al. Regardless of all Mikhail's fuck-ups, I love the way your amp sounds, and you of all people don't deserve this, not that anyone does, I suppose. Horrible. Fracking Mikhail.

Posted
that really blows.

That's punny given the way that tube blew. :cool:

Thanks for the condolences. Definitely my favorite amp ever. Not sure exactly what to do now, other than drink this glass of chilled gin I poured after writing that up. :confused:

Posted
That's punny given the way that tube blew. :cool:

Thanks for the condolences. Definitely my favorite amp ever. Not sure exactly what to do now, other than drink this glass of chilled gin I poured after writing that up. :confused:

Maybe it's time to bring out something really good, not that the gin isn't. :(

Really sorry about your amp Al. How long have you had it? You still have the Luxman though so your not out of business.

While the Luxman is nice, it's a big step down. :( :(

Posted
Al that sucks balls, we gotta find a good local solder jockey

I am really going to work on this because there have to be people here. I am thinking that ironbut and amphead and others gotta know somebody from the pro world or the DIY crowd that can troubleshoot and work on amps.

Maybe it's time to bring out something really good, not that the gin isn't. :(

While the Luxman is nice, it's a big step down. :( :(

The gin has a nice bite to accompany my pain. It's hot here and whisky really didn't sound good at the moment. Who knows what 30 minutes from now will bring...

Posted (edited)
I think the solution is to fly nate out for some consulting.

I would do that in a heartbeat, all expenses paid. When are you free to visit Mayberry Nate?

Edited by Voltron
Posted

I feel for you, Al. What a bummer! If not for the SP track record, I'd have a hard time believing this.

I wonder what might happen if Mikhail set foot anywhere near the Bay Area? I don't think it would be very pretty. Dan, Al, and Neil, all waiting with shovels!

Posted

That really sux~

Mikhail's charming work can be depended on to annoy sometime or the other.

Al, get in touch with Andy. He has two techs that are local to the LA area. He trusts them completely and they are supposedly very competent.

Also, Drew at Moon Audio has a tech that can work on any Single Power amp. I suggest you give him a call as well.

Don't worry....you'll be back up in no time, but I feel your pain.

Posted

Very good reason to not want to ever move the amp again once you get it working again. Maybe private single power amps should stay away from meets too, so they don't get jinxed and break. For a while I had avoided saying anything about SP, in case my Sq Wave XL needed service; but now Mikhail seems to be stealing/keeping amps from nice guys that send them in for repairs, so staying on his good side doesn't seem like it will help.

I vote we take up a collection every time an SP amp breaks, to replace it and be done with it. Sell the parts as scrap. Eventually we can get all the SP amps off the streets, like Obama is doing with "gas-guzzler"cars. :P

Posted

moving the amp likely was not the problem, think about tube guitar amps and the abuse they take. Most likely bad timing and incorrect spec'd parts killed the amp not a 650 mile van ride.

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